BitPay announced on December 1, 2020, that it had hired Jagruti Solanki as chief financial officer, a CPA who had worked as an assurance partner at Aprio1. BitPay's release also named Shaun Worley as its new vice president of product. Stephen Pair, BitPay's chief executive and co-founder, tied both hires to the company's growth plans. “The future of payments is on the blockchain and BitPay has the opportunity to continue to lead and disrupt the current global payments market,” Pair said.
Two leadership moves at BitPay on the record since 2017
Every move CryptoLately has verified there, by the day it became public
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Jan. 31, 2017 | Stern joined the board. Carl Stern joined the board of BitPay |
| Dec. 1, 2020 | Solanki became CFO. Jagruti Solanki was named Chief Financial Officer of BitPay |
12 executive hires on the record in 2020
Executive hires CryptoLately has verified, by year
- 2020: 12
- 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 2 |
| 2018 | 8 |
| 2019 | 11 |
| 2020 | 12 |
| 2021 | 27 |
| 2022 | 37 |
| 2023 | 20 |
| 2024 | 39 |
The move
BitPay's announcement pointed to Solanki's years at Aprio. There, she audited blockchain clients' books1. The American Institute of CPAs gave her its 2018 Innovative Practitioner of the Year Award for that work. Khabar, an Atlanta magazine, reported the hire on January 30, 2021. The magazine called Solanki "a nationally recognized subject matter expert on blockchain." It said she had helped write accounting rules for digital assets at that same institute2.
BitPay before and after
Solanki's role reached past bookkeeping by December 9, 2020. The Block reported on December 9, 2020, that BitPay had filed paperwork with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to create a national trust bank3. Solanki appeared on that filing. She was named as one of the bank's proposed organizers, alongside Pair and three other executives. BitPay general counsel Eden Doniger called the filing “the first step of many on our journey to launch a chartered institution”.
What came next
Solanki still held the CFO title on November 30, 2021. That day, Financial Management magazine quoted her comparing crypto payment processing to wire transfers4. BitPay processed about $1 billion in transactions a year by then, she told the magazine. Solanki also flagged a risk a payment processor's clients still carry. “It can be an accounting and tax nightmare if it is not done properly from the start,” Solanki said, pointing to the cost-basis tracking that companies holding cryptocurrency directly have to keep.
Sources
- "Atlanta CPA Named CFO of Cryptocurrency Payments Company BitPay," Business Wire via Metro Atlanta CEO, December 1, 2020, https://metroatlantaceo.com/news/2020/12/atlanta-cpa-named-cfo-cryptocurrency-payments-company-bitpay/
- "Jagruti Solanki named chief financial officer of BitPay," Khabar, January 30, 2021, https://www.khabar.com/magazine/community-newsmakers/jagruti-solanki-named-chief-financial-officer-of-bitpay
- "Bitcoin payments startup BitPay wants to create a national bank in Georgia," The Block, December 9, 2020, https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMijgFBVV95cUxQajItVFlqYzdXdTBEVWRfUmI4ZG9CTW1KMWxRT00xYU1YZElNM05UR2haemN5SzY3aW5zM3o4cUVNcGdDLWcxNVp5bTRPUXZXUlpidE9KcFFvbVNlMEhhZWt4amp2aXZrMk9GWE1iVmpMYXlqZllsSXRfanBkN292ejU1dnNncUxRdFRmaktn?oc=5
- "Crypto curious? What to know before accepting digital payments," Financial Management magazine, November 30, 2021, https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiqgFBVV95cUxOTURudDhoOXRGQ1pSdkdKWnJmZ0tBWVVBejhNZ2QzdjRPWVRJTzFFNWwtTXVmSURFNGNLZXV3MUpkdWlBQklxZEw0VXJJMnJscmhraC1Sc20xSW9kM0c2M192blFUX1ZVZmxKcHNNbkJib3doSVJJamlEemJhRUVyZDdzZkJnUDc3dEhLUWExT2lUNFhzWkxtTXNISVQ3SmZPektpZkZxZ3NlZw?oc=5